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Got Credit Card Debt? Chase Slate® Can Help

If you’re struggling with high-interest credit card debt, the last thing you may want to do is take out another credit card. But, there is a credit card that’s designed for those looking to repair credit and refinance credit card debt: the Chase Slate® card.

The Chase Slate® card offers a number of credit card perks designed for those who want to take responsibility for their financial future, including:

No annual fee

Free introductory balance transfers (up to 60 days)

0% APR for 15 months

Free monthly FICO® scoring

In this article, we’ll take a finer look the Chase Slate® credit card and how Sift can help you take advantage of this card’s many opportunities to pay down your debts once and for all. First, let’s start with a list of credit card benefits featured with this card.

Credit Card Benefits

$0 Introductory Balance Transfer Fee

If you’ve had a chance to shop around for cards that offer solutions for getting out of debt, you may have noticed that most charge a fee of 3% – 5% of your balance upfront. The Chase Slate® card instead offers you a 60-day period for transferring your non-Chase balances over after you get your card.

0% APR for 15 Months

If you need more than a year to pay down your debt, you will get a generous repayment period free of interest with the Chase Slate® card. It offers an introductory APR of 0% on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, which gives you some breathing room to pay off your outstanding credit card debt. After the 15-month period elapses, the ongoing APR reverts to a variable 15.74% – 24.49%.

No Annual Fee

Chase Slate® charges an annual fee of $0/year. In other words, this card will never charge you an annual fee for the privilege of using this card. This means you can secure all the benefits of this card without worrying about any out-of-pocket annual fees. Not too shabby!

Free FICO Scores

Knowledge is power and nowhere is this more appropriate than when dealing with your finances. Luckily, the Chase Slate® card offers free access to your FICO score, as well as a number of other useful tools that can help you stay on top of your debt and understand how your credit score is being created. Because your credit score is directly tied to the credit card balances you owe, this card can put you back on track to a favorable FICO score, which can ultimately bring you out of debt, help rehabilitate your credit, and earn more favorable lending terms (including lower APR rewards cards, mortgages, etc.)

Chase Slate® Blueprint®

Paying off your debt isn’t easy. The Chase Slate® card also offers Chase Blueprint®, a tool that can help you gain better control of your finances. Blueprint® is an interactive and customizable tool with four plans to help you achieve your personalized financial goals. You can set up one or more plans simultaneous. These include:

Full Pay: Looking to determine which categories of spending you don’t want to pay interest on each month? With Full Pay, your account will automatically designate these amounts to be paid in full each month even if you’re carrying a balance on other items.

Split: Choose any recent large purchase and Blueprint® will help you develop a specific plan to pay it off in specified increments within a predetermined timeframe.

Finish It: Select the amount you want to pay on your outstanding balance. Blueprint® then determines the amount of time you’ll need to pay the balance down and a corresponding payment plan to “finish” your debt.

Track It: Set up spending goals throughout various categories, which can help you track your budgeting progress.

After you’ve set up your Blueprint® plan, you’ll see your Blueprint® statement, which includes a simplified breakdown of each plan with the following helpful tools. For more info on how Blueprint® can help you pay off your debt and organize your financial strategies, click here.

Credit Card Drawbacks

Before applying for the Chase Slate® credit card, be aware that there are several drawbacks with this debt-repairing credit card:

Balance Transfer Restrictions

The Chase Slate® offers a generous balance transfer period, but there are a few restrictions on the debt you can transfer to it. First, the amount that you transfer, which includes fees and interest, cannot exceed $15,000 or your credit limit (whichever is lower). Secondly, you can’t transfer debt from another Chase account. If you have pre-existing debt with Chase, you’ll have to look elsewhere.

Balance Transfer Fee

The generous $0 balance transfer fee period is an enticing offer for new cardholders, but you should be aware that it is a double-edged sword. If you’re going to use the Chase Slate® for more than 60 days, be aware that it does charge a fee: 5% of the amount transferred or a minimum $5 (whichever amount is greater).

While a 5% fee might not seem that significant, it can cut into the overall savings you’ll see from doing the balance transfer in the first place. For example, if you transferred a $5,000 balance to the Chase Slate® card, you’d have to pay a $250 fee. This can be a determining factor for cardholders that may need more than two months to tackled their debt.

No Sign Up Bonus

What you see is what you get. The Chase Slate® is fairly no-frills when it comes to sign-up bonuses. In other words, there are no sign-up bonuses for this card! After all, this card is meant for sober-minded people that wish to pay down their debt, not impulsive types that are drawn to credit cards that offer enticing introductory offers, only to bog users down in hidden fees, high APR, and other credit card “traps”.

No Rewards Program

Just like the lack of a sign-up bonus, the Chase Slate® card doesn’t offer a rewards program. You don’t earn cash back, frequent-flier miles, rebates, or other rewards. Therefore, if you’re looking for a long-term solution to rehabilitate your credit, you may want to phase out this card once your debt is taken care of to start earning credit card rewards that put money back in your wallet.

How to Use the Chase Slate®Effectively

Unlike other credit cards that offer rewards and other perks right off the bat, you should have a long-term strategy for getting out of debt when using the Chase Slate® card. Because it lets you transfer balances without a balance transfer fee within the first 60 days of opening your account, you need to pay off your debts diligently and as quickly as possible—otherwise, you can be on the hook for those 5% fees.

Because the Chase Slate® comes with 0% intro APR for the first 15 months, you should plan to tackle your debt within a year or so. If you exceed this period, you may have to consider whether the lack of a rewards structure and other drawbacks (see above) make it worth your while.

Once you’ve managed to become debt-free, diligently pay off your balance in full each month, and brought your credit score back to life, you should consider another credit card that doesn’t charge an annual fee but offers rewards. A decent candidate is the Chase Freedom® card, which offers 5% back on bonuses (which change every quarter) and 1% on everything else. That way, you’re being rewarded for maintaining good credit.

Credit Card Benefits

The Chase Slate® Card has a number of credit card benefits. These include:

While these benefits are great for cardholders, they can be hard to keep track of or hidden to customers. That’s where using Sift can really come in handy. Sift users can take advantage of their benefits, track and manage these benefits, and automatically file claims to get the cash back they deserve—no need to decipher jargon or mark your calendar.

Want to know more? Click here to see how Sift can help your credit card put cash back in your wallet!

For more specific information about the Chase Slate® Card, click here.

Sift Blog

Sift unlocks hidden credit cards benefits like price protection (which enables you to automatically get refunds when we find lower prices). We also support other things like return, warranty, theft and damage protection. Sift will not only detect the benefits available to you, but it will automatically file claims on your behalf with credit card issuers to get your money back. Download app here